“KD’s injury is a ‘golden opportunity’ for Kyrie Irving” Kendrick Perkins CHALLENGES The Nets star to step up
Kyrie Irving is the only superstar left on the Brooklyn Nets roster after Kevin Durant's MCL injury. Kendrick Perkins says it's time for Kyrie to shine and prove to the league that he can be a number one option for any team.
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Kyrie Irving and Kendrick Perkins
Kevin Durant suffered a knee injury during the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets game on Sunday. Adrian Wojnarowski later revealed that Durant had suffered an MCL sprain injury, which would keep him out for a substantial amount of time. According to reports, KD will go through a re-evaluation after two weeks. According to NBA analyst and former NBA player Kendrick Perkins, Durant’s injury gives Kyrie Irving the to prove his worth.
In a conversation with Chiney Ogwumike on NBA Today, Perkins said that Kevin’s injury could give Irving an opportunity to show his worth. “I feel like this is a golden opportunity for Kyrie Irving to prove to the world that he can be a number one option team, that could lead a team into victories,” said Perkins. Irving was the number one option when he went to join the Boston Celtics. However, his stint failed miserably in Boston.
Big Perk also said that a walking bucket Kyrie is known to everyone. However, in KD’s absence, it would become even more important for Kyrie to get others involved to win games. “When you think about him, and you think about his skillset, we know he’s a walking bucket, we know he’s one of the most skilled guys to ever play the game of basketball. But I wanna see him get others involved,” Perk said. Perk said he wants to see Irving have Tyrese Haliburton kind of games. However, a comparison to a player leading in assists would certainly be a difficult task for Irving to handle.
Can Kyrie Irving carry the Brooklyn Nets in Durant’s absence?
Statistically or otherwise there is no way a player of any kind can fill the void that Durant’s absence creates in a team like the Nets. He creates not only his own shots and shoots like a video game, but KD also causes so many open shots for his players. Irving does have all the qualities to be as stellar as his teammate can be on any given night. However, he can not fill the defensive stops that 2 x MVP creates.
Kyrie was offered only one year contract with the Nets this offseason and would either look to sign somewhere else or resign with the Nets. However, his re-signing with Brooklyn is very unlikely. Perkins said, “Kyrie is up for a contract this upcoming season. I wanna see, can he be that leader? Can he be that voice? We saw Kevin Durant starts to be that voice…Can Kyrie Irving be that number one guy while Kevin Durant is out?” How the Nets’ season in absence of Durant plays out, remains to be seen.
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Nandjee Ranjan
(488 Articles Published)